


Lovers (Not) Left Behind

by kitkatt0430



Series: Rip Hunter Appreciation 2020 [2]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014), Torchwood
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst and Feels, F/M, Hopeful Ending, I started this fic with one ending in mind, M/M, Multi, Open Relationships, Polyamory, The Many Romances of Rip Hunter, The Time Bureau is the Time Agency, and now I have completely different ending, background Jack/Ianto - Freeform, i couldn't resist sneaking Jack Harkness into this one, story had a mind of its own I swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25041976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitkatt0430/pseuds/kitkatt0430
Summary: Rip's no stranger to love and loss.  To the lovers he's lost, one way or another.  And, perhaps, to the one he might keep.
Relationships: Hartley Rathaway/Rip Hunter, Jonah Hex/Rip Hunter, Miranda Coburn/Rip Hunter, Rip Hunter/Barry Allen/Iris West, Rip Hunter/Jack Harkness, Rip Hunter/Leonard Snart
Series: Rip Hunter Appreciation 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1808590
Comments: 5
Kudos: 17





	Lovers (Not) Left Behind

**Author's Note:**

> For Rip Appreciation Week Prompt: Romance

_**One** _

Miranda's mouth tasted like strawberries the first time they kissed.

It was forbidden, of course, which just made the taste of her mouth that much sweeter. Time Masters weren't allowed to have romantic entanglements with fellow agents. Preferably none at all, but as long as the agent wasn't... liaising with a fellow agent, a romance or sexual conquest could be ignored.

Rip, however, couldn't ignore Miranda. Couldn't ignore the sway of her hips or the coy glances over her shoulder, licking her lips slowly as her eyes raked over him. Rip had never felt this way before. So desperate for the allure of someone he couldn't - shouldn't - have.

And then, one evening as they studied together, Miranda finished the last of her glass of strawberry wine she'd bought as contraband off a Time Master (a friend of theirs who'd recently graduated) and emboldened by the alcohol, she kissed Rip.

Rip kissed her back. The taste of her lips far more inebriating than the wine in his glass.

He could have kissed her forever in that moment.

When they parted, Rip knew what they had couldn't work. Wouldn't work. The upper echelon of the Time Masters would never allow them to break the rules for long. He should tell her to stop.

"Take me to bed." Miranda's request held the tone of an order.

Rip was never good at saying no to an order. Especially when it was something he wanted with every fiber of his being. 

He should tell her to stop, but he doesn't. He tells her yes. Over and over, yes.

* * *

_**Two** _

Miranda was the one who told Rip they should have an open marriage. They'd be apart more often than not and she wanted them both to feel free to pursue other people if they so chose. Rip had a feeling it had to do with the curly haired River he'd caught Miranda flirting with when he'd returned from his latest mission. And he's not exactly opposed. He does his fair share of flirting, after all. It just... hadn't occurred to him to talk to Miranda about the possibility polyamory.

Considering Miranda gave up her career for Rip, the least he can do is give careful consideration to her desires regarding their relationship's boundaries. And when they finish discussing everything, Rip has to admit the idea of Miranda being intimate or even romantically involved with someone else doesn't really bother him. He knows she loves him, so it doesn't really matter if she were to love someone else too.

By the time Rip was headed out for his next assignment, they'd agreed to a certain definition of polyamory that they both hoped would work well for them.

Rip didn't really think about their agreement again after that. Not until Jonah.

The other man's interest wasn't exactly a surprise. Jonah Hex was very much the cowboy and, well, it wasn't exactly uncommon for a cowboy to be queer. At the same time, Jonah's interest in Rip specifically was... intoxicating.

"You can tell me if I'm over-steppin'," Jonah drawled, leaning in to brush a barely there kiss along Rip's jaw before leaning higher to nibble along Rip's earlobe. "I know you got a misses back home," he adds, running his fingers over Rip's wedding ring.

"We have an arrangement," Rip murmurs before turning to press his mouth to Jonah's. "Just because we love each other doesn't mean other lovers aren't permissible."

Jonah chuckles, deep in his throat. "And she'd be fine with you takin' a man as your lover?"

"Just as I would be fine with her taking another woman to her bed. We're faithful in the ways that count." Rip met Jonah's eyes steadily. "Do I still interest you?"

"Very," Jonah plundered Rip's mouth and pressed him down into their bedrolls. And for a while they almost ran hotter than the fire crackling beside them.

* * *

_**Three** _

"Look, I realize I should have led with this before I started kissing you, but I've got a boyfriend." Jack Harkness gave Rip a sort of lopsided, charming smile. "We're in an open relationship, but he appreciates a heads up before I go any further than kissing with someone. And I would like very much to take you to bed, Rip."

"I'm in a somewhat similar situation with my wife," Rip replied, thumb rubbing against his wedding ring. He hadn't been to see her since leaving Jonah.

Mostly because Rip felt guilty. He'd almost stayed when Jonah asked him to. He'd almost thrown away his life as a Time Master and his marriage all for a relationship he knew he'd never be allowed to keep. He'd left Jonah behind at Calvert and knowing what he did about the town's fate...

Rip had made the right choice as a Time Master. But he felt like he'd been unfaithful to Miranda in how attached he'd become to Jonah. And he felt like he'd betrayed Jonah by choosing his job over his lover. Somehow, he had to learn to live with all of that.

He'd just finished a job and Rip had some downtime coming to him, but instead of going home to Miranda and confessing the intensity of his affair with Jonah... Rip was dallying with yet another man.

"Then do you mind if I..." Jack tilted his head towards a quiet balcony. "Shouldn't take but a few minutes. And when he hear's how handsome you are, Ianto'll probably be jealous he isn't here to join in."

"I'll be waiting, then," Rip promised. But he follows along discretely, his curiosity getting the better of him.

Jack Harkness is, after all, the leader of Torchwood Three in Cardiff and rumored to be a time traveler himself. Strictly off limits to the Time Masters, but what Rip's higher up's don't know won't hurt him.

"Hey, Yan," Jack greets his boyfriend over the phone. "You'll never believe who I ran into at the hotel bar. Nope. Nuh-uh. Oh, just stop guessing and let me tell you. Rip Hunter."

Rip feels oddly chilled. Why would Jack Harkness know who Rip is?

"Yup, long coat and everything. Pretty sure he's still a Time Master right now and I just can't resist..." he laughed. "Oh, really. See, I think you just want me to call you for phone sex. But, yeah, I'll give you every little detail afterwards."

Rip hurried back to the table where they'd been sitting, his head spinning. Why would there ever be a time when he wasn't a Time Master? Maybe he retires to be with Miranda at some point?

"Hey, you ready to head upstairs?" Jack asked, leaning in to kiss the corner of Rip's mouth.

He should ask for answers. He should leave before he learned anything about his future he didn't want to know. He should...

"Yes," Rip says firmly and let's Jack lead him by the hand to the elevators, where Jack chases away all Rip's thoughts, and worries too, with the hickeys he leaves behind on Rip's neck. And that's before they even make it to Harkness' room.

* * *

_**Interlude** _

"If we have a boy, we should name him Jonas," Miranda says, rubbing her swollen belly.

Rip's breath catches. "Are... are you sure?" 

His feelings for Jonah are still... raw. But Miranda had listened to his anguished confession and she hadn't been angry with him for thinking of staying in the past. Because, though he'd considered it, he hadn't stayed. Rip had come back to her. So Miranda had taken her errant husband to bed and hadn't let him leave until his grief for Jonah was spent. Some seven months later, well...

"I'm sure," Miranda told him. "I wish I could have known Jonah the way you did. But since I can't... I'd like to honor your love for him. Jonas is a good name."

Rip smiled in relief. "It is a good name." And Jonas, Rip is sure, will be a wonderful son.

* * *

_**Four** _

Rip is a little drunk. Which he'll contend later is his only reason for kissing Leonard Snart. It's not. He's wanted to do this since he first heard the other man speak.

The man's voice is like pure sex. Surely Rip could be excused for wanting a taste?

"Now, Rip," Len drawls, "what will your wife think, once you've rewritten time, to learn you were unfaithful with a thief."

"She wouldn't think me unfaithful in the slightest for sleeping with you, Snart."

"What, am I on your cheat list?" the thief mocked.

Rip rolled his eyes. "We have an open marriage. Miranda has... had other lovers. So have I."

"Jonah Hex," Leonard guessed, all too observant.

"Among others," Rip agreed. "Miranda would want me to take comfort where I can find it."

"I've never been good at comforting," Len retorts, but he's looking interested despite the verbal repartee. Or perhaps because of it.

"All I need," Rip injected a little drawl into his own voice, "is for you to be at least as good at sex as you are at kissing. Think you can handle that?"

Len answers with another kiss, this one passionate enough to make Rip's toes curl.

* * *

_**Five** _

Rip had only intended to get Barry Allen's input on creating the new agency for protecting the integrity of the timeline. He had not intended to go to the bed with the man.

But, well... Iris West-Allen could be quite persuasive. And she was right. Rip needed something good in his life for a little while.

He didn't really belong here, curled between Barry and Iris. But they'd offered him solace. A respite from his troubles. So long as he was in this time with them, should he want it, his place was in their bed.

And Rip had wanted. He'd always wondered if a speedster really could use their powers in bed and, well... Rip certainly had his answer now. And he'd always had a little hero worship in his heart for both Barry Allen and Iris West-Allen. Each amazing and influential heroes in their own right.

Miranda would have...

Rip stops that thought and tucks it away. This isn't a time to for heartache over the past or worrying about the future.

It's a time to rest and to sleep.

* * *

_**Plus One**_

After Mallus, Rip had expected to find himself rather, well... dead.

He hadn't expected to find himself waking up on a bed in a fairly nice apartment. Nor had he expected the rather handsome man nursing him back to health.

Hartley Rathaway, a sharp tongued thief with an affinity for rats and an uneasy truce with STAR Labs. An unlikely hero, to be sure, but Rip feels drawn to him. And so, instead of making contact with Barry and Iris and Team Flash, Rip relaxes within Hartley's home and for once in his life... lets himself heal. They talk science by day, theft by night, and have sex whenever they feel like it.

Rip's never had a relationship that put so little pressure on him and he wants to lose himself in it. But he's not sure if Hartley feels the same way. He's afraid to ask, to start a conversation that might bring the safety net he's fallen into crumbling down around him.

In the end, it's Hartley who asks. "Are you ever going to let your friends know you're not dead?"

"I have... I have a bad habit of putting what I think are my obligations over my own well being," Rip admits quietly. He'd imbued that quality into the Time Bureau, unfortunately. Adherence to the letter of the rules to the point that the spirit in which those rules were made was lost. He hopes they learn something from the Legends. "I'm afraid that if I reach out to them, I'll fall back into that. I haven't... I haven't been this happy in a very long time, Hartley, and I... I want to remain with you. If you'll have me."

Hartley reaches out and cups Rip's face. Draws him into a lingering kiss. "Oh, trust me, Rip. You're mine. I'm a thief; I don't give up what's mine and I certainly stole your heart, fair and square." He smiles when Rip chuckles at that. "Call your friends. If you stay, you'll stay with me. If you go, I'll be at your side. Whatever you choose, I'll be there to keep you balanced."

And if Rip is being perfectly honest... that balance Hartley promises is exactly what he needs.

**Author's Note:**

> For the part with Jack, he was excited because Rip Hunter founded the Time Bureau which eventually re-brands as the Time Agency. So Ianto was a.) making fun of him for being a fanboy and b.) requesting a detailed recounting of their encounter because, Jack was right, Ianto was horny and wanted phone sex to look forward to later on. Also, Ianto has been teasing Jack about his WWII long coat being an homage to Rip Hunter's coat since learning who Rip Hunter is/was/will be.


End file.
